Constanta honors Amanar with retirement ceremony-2001

The city of Constanta organized a
retirement ceremony for Amanar at the Ovidiu Theater. Highlights included the
Constanta symphony playing Verdi's Traviata in Simona's honor, and a short
documentary showcasing Simona's career.

She was given a small statue of herself and a giant
cake, with pictures of her on beam and floor made of sugar frosting. The ING
Barrings Bank gave her a check for 10 M lei ($350). Head coaches Octavian Belu,
Mariana Bitang and Dan Grecu were in attendance, along with their gymnasts.
Simona's guest of honor was her first coach, Ileana Mih緤l・ At the end of the
festivities, Simona received flower bouquets from Marius Urzic・and Camelia
Voinea. The only notable absence was the Constanta mayor's office who failed to
send a representative. "I'm sorry nobody from the mayor's office came. Maybe
their were embarrassed by all the empty promises they made. On the other hand,
I'm as happy as can be to have all my former teammates close to me, and everyone
else who's helped throughout my life."

Simona has certainly been busy since retiring from
gymnastics. Aside from being nominated as president for Constanta's commission
to promote "tolerance and fair play in sports", she now teaches gymnastics
classes at an elementary school in Timisoara. She teaches a total of 9 classes
in the afternoon (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday) and still attends college in
the morning. She hopes to eventually start a separate class for aspiring
gymnasts.

Her boyfriend Cosmin Tab縒・joked about her new teaching
position. "Why does she need other students when she already has me? Does she
need other people to tell her "man, does our prof suck!" I keep telling her all
she needs is to put a little effort into it and she can take me all the way to
the Olympics," he concluded. Simona shoots him a crooked look and replies
"You're too old. Time to retire.・